Tracker statistics for the period January to June show that hijackings still dominate national vehicle crime, accounting for 55% of incidents, compared with theft at 45%.

However, while the hijacking-to-theft ratio for personal vehicles is relatively even at a roughly 50:50 split, a business vehicle has a far higher hijacking propensity at 65%, compared with theft at 35%.

The Tracker Vehicle Crime Index aggregates information from Tracker’s more than 1.1-million vehicle monitoring subscriptions.

Tracker’s data indicates that a business vehicle is 59% more likely to experience vehicle crime, and 32% more likely to be hijacked than a personal vehicle.

Gauteng is still the province that experiences the most vehicle crime, with 60% of the total vehicle crime incidents, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 17% and the Western Cape at 9%.

The same trend is evident when examining business vehicle crime, with Gauteng at 55%, KwaZulu-Natal at 16% and the Western Cape at 14%.

There is also, statistically speaking, lower business vehicle crime collectively for provinces other than Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.

However, the crime that occurs in these regions is again skewed towards hijacking, with business vehicles in these areas three times more likely to encounter hijacking as theft.

Nationwide, a higher proportion of vehicles are reported hijacked on Fridays, between 11:00 and 15:00.

Theft is mainly reported on Saturdays, between 11:00 and 15:00.

“Crime sophistication varies provincially, usually linked to emerging crime opportunities, such as changes within regional transportation logistics,” says Tracker COO Duma Ngcobo.

“We are currently seeing the emergence of more sophisticated vehicle crime syndicates in Gauteng and escalating violence accompanying vehicle crime in KwaZulu-Natal.

“Businesses and consumers should remain aware of the risks, and always be vigilant on our roads.”

Tracker says its efforts to combat vehicle crime have resulted in 122 518 vehicle recoveries, 20 784 arrests and 1 104 firearms recovered to date.